Robotics

GitHub Repo

The final project for my Design of Mechatronic Systems course was to develop a team of fully autonomous hockey playing robots. The robots used Wii remote sensors and a constellation of infrared lights to localize their position on the rink. A ring of phototransistors detected an IR-emitting puck. I was our teams mechanical design lead, and was responsible for creating robust, powerful, and serviceable robots. Within the first week, I developed a prototype chassis with minimal circuitry for testing and debugging code.

In the following three weeks, I designed and fabricated two striker robots. The robot contained a series of 3D printed shells that stored lead-shot for additional weight to help win pushing battles on the low friction field. The shells were covered with tape to conceal the lead shot and separated with a layer of laser cut acrylic. The motors were mounted by custom machined brackets, and the entire robot was encased in an ABS shell to help absorb impact upon collision. 

We fabricated an additional striker bot in the unlikely occurrence that it received excess damaged during competition. The striker robot's design was modified in order to create our goalie. This project was completed in collaboration with teammates Julia Lin, Rebecca Abramowitz, and Adnan Jafferjee. 

For my Design of Mechatronic Systems course, I developed a robot capable of navigating a labyrinth while carrying a 500-gram payload. The robot was required to fit inside a 15 cm cylinder and be no taller than 13 cm. Additionally, the robot needed to carry it's own power and connect to a joystick via a ribbon cable for control via pulse-width modulation.

My robot used laser-cut acrylic for the frame and wheels, and was balanced using a metal caster up front. I soldered all of the electronics onto a perfboard, which was placed on the back of the system  via an acrylic wall. Since my robot needed to be strong enough to carry the large payload while navigating the labyrinth, I themed my design around one of the strongest superheroes: The Incredible Hulk.

As part of my Introduction to Electromechanical Prototyping course, I designed two custom PCBs to house a micro-controller and motor-controller. The individual components were imported into Altium from an online schematic. I virtually placed and routed the components on the board by hand to comply with proper convention and ensure functionality. The boards were fabricated at an external facility.

The individual components on the boards were picked and placed manually, with smaller components reflow-soldered in an oven and larger components hand soldered. Unfortunately, due to shipping errors, one of my two PCBs did not arrive, so I assembled my own PCB and as well as a PCB designed by Adnan Jafferjee as a substitute. My fully designed PCB and schematic can be seen towards the end of the slideshow.